Preludes
Dave Malloy 's new show, Preludes , is "inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff." If only Rach knew the impact he would have he might not have gone through the tsuris that is the action of Preludes . The title is taken from Rachmaninoff's breakthrough work, but it's so much more. Preludes are a hint of what's to come, yet it's the very excitement created by that hint, that taste that paralyzes Rachmaninoff and makes him loathe to write more. As noted in the program, Rach's "Symphony no. 1 in D minor, opus 13" premiered when the composer was 24, and the performance was a disaster. He was so stung by the reception that he developed a three-years-long bout of writer's block. As Malloy ( Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 ) explores in his play, the icy reception wasn't the only thing keeping Rach from writing. Set inside Rachmaninoff's mind, Preludes is an imagination of what happened in Rach's sessions wit...